Much of what drum manufacturers do is to bring out new stuff that "drastically changes everything" in order to keep their businees running. It all has to do with fashion. For instance it is totally senseless to sell virgin bass drums by meanings of good drum sound, but it helped the manufacturers creating new needs.
For a long time shells had standard depth without variations. Then Sonor came up with the Signature series in the 80ies (square shells) and power shells shortly after. Then power shells dominated the next century, and floor toms were frowned. Then they went back to standard sizes for a while. After that Tama came up with Hyper Drive toms and cannon deep, almost square bass drums. That again lastet a little while, after which unexpectately standard sized drums won the race.
In the last couple of years many companies sold vintage style drums with 14" deep bass drums, leaving out suspension mounts and all that neat modern stuff. To be continued...
Overlooking half a century of drum history, I can tell that there wasn't a big turning point in drum industry, where all of a sudden drumsound made a big step like Neil Armstrong on the moon. Good drums will sound good, no matter how deep they are, as well as good drummers sound good on almost everything.
I’m doubting that fashion has more to drum design than sonics, but you may be right.
Tama and Pearl make nothing but drums and percussion instruments. Yamaha, although a large conglomerate of manufacturers, has highly skilled people making drums (and some of the finest pianos available). It’s a stretch, for me, to think that people in these companies will let a drum go out the door that sounds inferior but looks “stylish”.
When including Gretsch, DW and Ludwig in this comparison, we see that they, too, have made deep bass drums. Did Gretsch ever make power toms? I don’t think so. DW? Ludwig? I don’t know. Maybe someone here knows.
On the topic of power toms, in my experience, a larger shell is louder. Diameter affect pitch, depth affects loudness. Toms are now designed in smaller depths because if loudness is needed in a venue, mics & PA systems provide it. Loudness is never needed in a studio.
In an interview with Steve Smith (on one of his DVDs maybe?), he laments how hard he used to hit his drums when in Journey, when he should’ve relied on the FOH for loudness.
In a workshop with Kenny Aronoff, I asked him about his red Tama kit with power toms that he used in John Mellencamp’s band, he said that’s what they made at the time (1980s) and he loved their sound. Mellencamp hated them cuz they were so loud and resonated so much. When Aronoff played at Obama’s 2008 inauguration (he was the music director), Mellencamp visited him backstage before the event and told him not to use any of “those giant toms” on his tune. (Mellencamp also told Aronoff, “I made you”, but that’s a different story).
But I totally understand the portability of a smaller drum. Back in the last century, when jazz was exploding in popularity in post-WWII USA, drummers needed their kit to fit into the car trunk. Sizes were smaller simply for this function.
We’d all like to walk into a venue with two bags in each hand and one over the shoulder and be done with load-in.